Garou (One Punch Man)
Garou (in Japanese: 餓狼) is a major antagonist in the One-Punch Man series, serving as the main antagonist of the Hero Hunt Arc and the Monster Association arc. He was the discipline of Bang, then was later kicked out from his dojo for massacring many of the students. After that event, The Hero Association viewed him as an enemy called "Human Monster". Garou is an antithesis character to his archenemy Saitama in a sense that if Saitama can be labeled "a hero who hides his good heart", Garou is "a villain who hides his good heart". He is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Greg Chun in the English dub version. Biography When he was a child he was unpopular and can be seen reading a book, one day he played heroes with a popular kid named Tacchan and impersonated the role of the monster, when he was kicked in the face by Tacchan he called the teacher but other children defended Tacchan by saying to her that that's how the game worked. He later watched an episode of the Justice Man TV and was extremely irritated by the fact of all the monsters losing to him, he asked to his father when there would be a villain that could defeat Justice Man but he was denied by saying to him that all the monsters in the end will die because they are monsters. Unable to accept the fact he decided to become the strongest monster and never lose, and to change the scenario. He is later seen as an adult training with Bang, but when the training was complete he disabled many of the students, including Sour Face, leading Bang to beat him and expelling him from the dojo. He reappeared talking with a defeated martial artist asking him who he was, responding that he's "The Villain". Personality Garou is initially presented as a sinister villain, obsessed with becoming a monster and beating up heroes. He can come off being quite brutal as he is willing to attack those that are weaker than him and demonstrate painful techniques such as twisting their arms and muscles. He can also be very prideful of his strength and skill, which in turn leads him to his eventual downfall. Because of his past, Garou despises popularity, believing that those that are popular will always win. In addition to this, he dislikes how villains are always forced to be the ones to lose, while the heroes are the ones that always wins. Despite his ruthless nature, Garou does actually have a sense of morality in him. He does not actually aim to kill heroes or even attack civilians. Instead, he simply wishes to beat up heroes in a punishing state. He has also shown to be quite protective for others, despite being in denial about it. This is noticeably shown in his relationship with Tareo, who looks up to him as a guardian. Powers and Abilities Garou was once a talented martial artist, under Bang's training. He was Bang's best disciple, as he had shown exceptional strength and skill under his teachings. His ruthless nature got him expelled but Garou continued his training on his own time, eventually learning many of Bang's techniques. Although he was human, Garou's overall powers and abilities were noticeably superhuman and he could rival with Class S superheroes as a result. He would eventually train himself through various battles and bloodshed, before eventually becoming a powerful monster that could even take on Saitama himself. Powers *'Superhuman Strength': Garou has shown to display strength on par with the Class S heroes. He has shown to take out various demon levelled monsters with relative ease as well as inflict serious wounds and injuries to heroes, ranging from Class C to Class S. When Garou transforms into a monster, his strength becomes that above a Dragon level monster and can take on a casual Saitama. *'Superhuman Speed': While not in the same league as someone like Flashy Flash, Garou has shown that his movements are incredible to the point where he can effortlessly dodge around bullets and reflect them back. He has later shown in his half transformation that he can evade Orochi's attacks for a good amount of time. In his fully awakened state, his speed is beyond that of Flashy Flash and can take out Golden Sperm in a very short amount of time. *'Superhuman Durability': Garou is capable of taking heavy hits from various Class S heroes, as well as monsters that are above him, including Dragon level threats. In his monster form, the only thing that is capable of hurting him is one of Saitama's punches, which even then he has shown he can survive. *'Accelerated Growth': Garou's main power is his accelerated growth, in which the more battles he engages in and either wins or loses, the greater his physical capabilities become. As he continues to fight with no resistance, Garou has been able to increase his strength, speed and durability to that a monstrous state and has gained new abilities. **'Regenerative Healing Factor': As part of his accelerated growth, Garou has gained the ability to regenerate severe wounds and damaged/torn limbs from his body. This ability is noticeably well shown during his battle with Saitama once he fully evolved into a monster. Abilities *'Martial Arts': Due to Bang's teaching, Garou is exceptionally skilled in martial arts. He has developed and perfected Bang's techniques such as the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. He can also pick up techniques from other fighters as well and mimic their fighting stances, such as Tanktop Master's Tanktop Tackle '''and Bomb's '''Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist. Gallery Manga Garou Child.png GarouMangaAvi.png Garou Intro.png Garou.jpg Garo half monster.png Garou Monster Association Color.png Anime GarouArtwork.png GAROU.png Webcomic Garou Awakened Webcomic.png FirstGarou.png|Garou's first form. SecondGarou.png|Garou's second form. ThirdGarou.png|Garou's third form. FinalGarou.png|Garou's final form. Trivia *The name "Garou" in the Japanese language means "hungry wolf". **Ironically, Garou posed himself as "the Wolfman" in the Super Fight Tournament where he wore a wolf mask. *Garou is one of the two villains to survive long in a battle against Saitama, giving him a rather challenging battle. The other being Boros. *Although the Hero Association suggests that Garou is a Dragon level threat, he claims to be a God level threat. If this is true, then this would make him the first God level threat shown in the series, although this is never confirmed by ONE or Murata. *When asked whether Boros or Garou would win in a fight against each other, ONE stated that Garou would lose in his human form, but in his Awakened form, it would be "one hell of a battle". He also added that Garou is stronger when it comes to close combat. *Garou is a complete foil to Saitama in many ways: **When he was a kid, Saitama wanted to become a hero due to admire superheroes from tv shows and movies. Garou on the other hand, wanted to become a villain out of frustation because of the heroes always defeating and ruining the villain's plan, no matter how hard they tried to defeat the hero. **Garou is not above the average power on One Punch Man's world, but make up for it with being a highly skilled and proficient martial artist with the ability to predict and adapt to his enemy's abilities. Saitama is an ordinary person with no skill on martial arts whatsoever and who's techniques are basic and improvised fighting moves, but possess the highiest physical prowess of the universe, therefore making him invincible just by pure power alone. **Notably, Saitama contrast with the typical shonen Protagonist in many senses (like not having pointy hair or supermodes) whereas Garou plays straight the most notorious shonen traits, like having martial arts prowess, high appetite, sharp hair and possessing multiple transformations. **Saitama's main strategy is punch his enemy until the foe is killed/defeated, whereas Garou is a highly tactical and analytical martial artist who can predict and adapt to his enemy's skills and fighting style. **Saitama never had formal training and had to self-train himself with his workout routine in order to become stronger, which granted him unparalleled power. Garou was ruthlessly trained in martial arts by Bang for years before deciding to start fighting heroes, and this didn't granted him immense power but rather amazing fighting skills. **While Saitama is "a hero who destroys monsters", Garou can be considered a "monster who destroys heroes". Navigation Category:Fighters Category:Supervillains Category:One Punch Man Villains Category:Science Fantasy Villains Category:Manga Villains Category:Anime Villains Category:Webcomic Villains Category:Humanoid Category:Martial Artists Category:Torturer Category:Monsters Category:Arrogant Category:Male Category:Brutes Category:Egotist Category:Extremists Category:Delusional Category:One-Man Army Category:Archenemy Category:Insecure Category:Wrathful Category:Protective Category:Obsessed Category:Mutated Category:Criminals Category:Honorable Category:Evil Vs. 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